


it's too late to go back (i can see the darkness through the cracks)

by superhusbands4ever (Potterwatch97)



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Tony Stark, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, But Also a Little Steve Rogers Critical, Dark, Electrocution, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt Tony Stark, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Not A Happy Ending, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Not Canon Compliant, Not Really Character Death, POV Steve Rogers, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Steve Rogers Feels, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Feels, Winter Soldier Tony Stark, but no character death, no one dies I promise, steve rogers friendly, this is dark yall, winter soldier!tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 18:39:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17048504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Potterwatch97/pseuds/superhusbands4ever
Summary: Every time Steve closes his eyes he sees Tony. The way his nose scrunched up and his eyes crinkled when he laughed. The way his eyes lit up when he worked in the workshop. The arch of his throat when he threw his head back, moan ripped from his throat as Steve thrust into him. The way his eyes glossed over as he stared at that small screen in a Siberian bunker. The hurt and betrayal on his face, eyes wide in horror as Steve hovers over him, shield raised and about to swing--"Tony Stark is missing.Every day Steve thinks back to that fight in that bunker, and every day he can't help but think that whatever has happened to Tony is his fault.~“This base we’re going to. I’ve been there before quite a few times--”“Buck--”“-- it’s where they used to do all their experiments.”Steve froze. He didn’t know how to react.“It’s where they…” Bucky gestures with his metal arm, “...y’know.”Steve feels horrified.“I just wanted to tell you, because...” Bucky sighs. “I know you’re hoping that we’re gonna find him this time, but, Steve? At this place? Ireallyhope we don’t.”





	it's too late to go back (i can see the darkness through the cracks)

**Author's Note:**

> Firstly, I would like to say I am so glad I am done with this fic! I started it over a year ago and it's been on my computer ever since. I've been wanting to finish it forever because I love Winter Soldier Tony but I just didn't have the time or motivation until now.
> 
> Secondly, I would like to thank demigodscum on discord for beta-ing this fic! You rock!
> 
> Thirdly, I would like to warn that there is intense and graphic violence w/ a lot of blood in this fic. I don't usually write that so I figured I should warn any of my subscribers just in case that isn't your thing. It's rated Explicit because of the violence and blood and possible disturbing imagery.
> 
> Lastly I would like to state or the record that there is no character death in this fic, major or minor. No one is dead, it just looks like it.
> 
> Enjoy!

Steve rubs his hand over his tired eyes, trying to fight sleep and focus on the file in front of him. It isn’t very big and he has read it a million times at this point, but it was all the information they had about Tony.

Tony, who has been missing for nearly a year now.

The day Steve found out, the palace had been in a frenzy for a few hours already when T’Challa asked for a moment alone with Steve. He hadn’t known what to expect from the meeting, but he did know he hadn’t expected the four words that would haunt his every dream and waking moment for weeks and months to come.

_ “Tony Stark is missing.” _

It had only been a few days since the fight in Siberia. Since Tony had seen… and then he’d tried to… and then the fighting… and Steve almost--

It had only been a few days since the fight in Siberia, then. It had been an eventful few days, between returning to Wakanda, breaking out the other Avengers from the Raft, writing Tony that letter and sending him the phone, and watching Bucky go back under in cryo. Steve had already been emotionally and mentally exhausted.

When there was a sudden flurry of movement around the palace, Steve’s first thought was that the UN had found them. Either the UN had found them or T’Challa had given up where they were. Either way, it wasn’t good.

But when T’Challa had come to Steve and told him the news, he’d almost wished it was the UN at their door.

Instead of the UN it was Rhodey and Vision. Rhodey had called T’Challa, frantic and desperate, telling T’Challa that Tony had disappeared. FRIDAY had sent coordinates of Tony’s last known location to Vision before all communication was lost. When Vision had gotten there, Tony and the suit were gone. Rhodes had said the only way to shut down communication with FRIDAY in the suit was to completely kill power to the suit. If the suit was powerless then Tony shouldn’t have been able to go anywhere on his own.

Therefore, Rhodey and Vision believed he had been taken.

Everything had devolved after that. A few days passed and Stark Industries was never contacted about ransom. A few weeks passed and no strange explosions or miraculous tech had appeared. A few months passed and the world was ready to give up, ready to declare Tony Stark KIA and give him an official funeral.

But Steve wasn’t ready.

Steve blamed himself. He blamed himself for shutting down the suit. He blamed himself for leaving Tony behind. He had just been so worried, so scared when he went after Bucky like that--

Still, simple facts were that he was the one who made the decision to bring his shield down on the arc reactor. He was the reason Tony’s suit didn’t have power. He was the one who made the decision to leave Tony behind. It was his fault.

He didn’t think anyone would argue with him on that either.

Now, though, they were running out of leads. It seemed like common sense at the time to assume HYDRA had taken Tony, given it was their old bunker they had been fighting in. However, they had checked every HYDRA hideout Clint and Natasha could find hidden in those old SHIELD dump files. They were running out of leads and sources to look through, and Clint had started insinuating that maybe they were looking in the wrong direction. Maybe whoever took Tony wasn’t HYDRA but someone else.

But they hadn’t exhausted  _ all  _ of their HYDRA resources yet.

“You ready to go?”

Honestly, Steve felt more than a little guilty waking Bucky from what was probably the first truly peaceful rest he’d gotten in a long time. But they were running out of places to look, and God only knew they’d long since run out of time, and Steve was too desperate to give up.

Bucky had understood of course and had willingly given any information he could. He’d known of a few places HYDRA had never actually put on a paper trail, so they had some new leads and some new information. Steve knew Bucky was probably helping partially out of a slight sense of guilt, and he knew this was hard for Bucky yet he never complained. Steve felt even more guilty at making Bucky journey back into all those awful memories, but Bucky had just shaken his head.

_ “I told you. Till the end of the line, punk.” _

“Where did you say this place was again?” Steve asks as he stands, gathering up his files for the mission.

“Siberia,” Bucky says quietly, and Steve tries to ignore the pang in his chest, “There’s an old base in the mountains outside of an abandoned town called Kadykchan. HYDRA has been hiding in the area for decades.”

Steve nods, but he regards Bucky carefully. He’s leaning against the doorframe, hands in his pockets. His new, black vibranium arm (courtesy of Princess Shuri) glints in the sunlight through the window. His posture appears carefree, but his face is pinched and he’s avoiding looking Steve in the eye.

“What is it?” Steve asks bluntly.

“It’s nothing,” Bucky replies, his voice carefully blank.

“So there is something?”

Bucky sighs and looks at his shoes for a moment, running a hand through his hair in agitation.

“I just…” Buck drifts off momentarily before turning his head to look out the window.

“This base we’re going to. I’ve been there before quite a few times--”

“Buck--”

“-- it’s where they used to do all their experiments.”

Steve froze. He didn’t know how to react.

“It’s where they…” Bucky gestures with his metal arm, “...y’know.”

Steve feels horrified. “Bucky…”

“No one really knew it was there,” Bucky plows on, turning to look directly at Steve. “The only ones who knew were the guys at the top, highest level, the scientists and doctors who worked there, and… and their captives.”

“You--”

“It’s also where they’d take their new soldiers,” Bucky says quietly. “Take them there, give them the serum, keep ‘em for observation. I was usually brought in to test against the ones who made it.”

Steve’s whole body goes numb. He suddenly can’t breathe properly. He feels like he is simultaneously getting too much air, yet not enough.

“I just wanted to tell you, because...” Bucky sighs. “I know you’re hoping that we’re gonna find him this time, but, Steve? At this place? I _really_ hope we don’t.”

Steve’s eyes slip closed and he feels his whole body try to cave in on itself. He tried not to think of the possibilities, the implications. The thought of Tony being there, alone, tortured, tormented, and experimented on--

“Did you sleep at all last night?” Bucky asked quietly, turning to lead Steve to the tarmac where the quinjet was waiting for them.

“No,” Steve replies, stepping in line beside Bucky and trying to ignore all the disgusting images going through his mind. “I don’t think I really have since…”

“Yeah,” Bucky mutters, “I haven’t really slept much either since you guys unfroze me.”

“I really am sorry, Buck,” Steve starts, heart heavy.

“I told you, it’s fine,” Bucky assures him, attempting a smile. He put a hand on Steve’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “I told you, till the end of line, right?”

Steve takes a deep breath and nods.

“Besides, I know you and Stark have a… history.”

Bucky is hedging like he’s unsure how Steve will react to the subject.

“Yes, Buck, we were... screwing around before, but that doesn’t--”

“Just screwing around, huh?” Bucky is smirking slightly at him now and Steve feels a pang in his chest at the familiar look on his face.

“I mean… it might have… there might have been-- more-- involved. Possibly. It’s-- it’s not like-- I mean we were--”

“Alright pal, calm down,” Bucky says as he claps a hand on Steve shoulder, “I’m just messing with you. Let’s go find your boyfriend.”

“ _ Bucky.” _

“I’m not judging,” Bucky lifts his hands in surrender as he turns to lead them out to the jet.

Steve rolls his eyes in fond exasperation and follows after him, trying to ignore the dread and anxiety bubbling in his stomach.

A few hours later and Steve, Bucky, Sam, Clint, Natasha, and Wanda are waiting as the jet starts its descent into the mountains outside of Kadykchan.

Steve waits with dread as he tries not to imagine what they might find in that bunker. An image of Tony frozen on ice floats into his head, quickly changing to an image of Tony strapped down to a metal chair, device on his head and bite guard in his mouth as HYDRA runs electricity through his brain and his body, Tony’s jaw clenched and veins in his neck popping in an attempt not to scream, to not give them the satisfaction--

“Whatever you’re thinking about, you need to stop.”

Steve jumps as Sam walks up beside him and claps a hand onto his shoulder.

“Sorry,” Steve says gruffly, swallowing hard. “My mind was running away from me.”

“I’ll say,” Sam says, glancing back at the others before turning back to Steve, stepping closer.

“Listen,” Sam starts, “I was talking to Barnes. He told me what this place is. I know exactly what it is you’re imagining in your head right now, but you need to focus. If Stark is here then he’s gonna need to you to be on your A-game to get him out.”

“What if he doesn’t want to leave,” Steve asks quietly, fear shining through his eyes. “You know what they did to Buck. You read the file, you know what this place is. What it does. You know what we might end up facing here, Sam.”

Sam meets Steve’s eye and Steve can see Sam is remembering the same thing he is. A masked super soldier relentlessly chasing them through DC, nearly killing Nick Fury, effortlessly killing dozens of others, nearly killing Captain America as well if he hadn’t saved him from drowning in the river.

“If Stark is here and he has been HYDRA-fied, it’s only been a few months,” Sam says quietly, looking straight into Steve’s eyes, “Barnes was in their grasp for nearly 70 years and we managed to break through to him. We’ll figure it out.”

Steve nods and swallows again.

“I just--” he stutters, trying to clear his mind and get ready to focus on the mission, “if they did turn him… into-- into… you know. It’s  _ Tony,  _ Sam, I don’t know if I-- if I can--”

“I know,” Sam reassures him quietly, “I know what Stark means to you. I remember how you two were before all that… Civil War shit. And I know no matter what I say to you right now or what happens in that bunker, you’re going to blame yourself. But you shouldn’t. You couldn’t have known this would happen.”

Steve simply nodded again, not trusting his voice.

“Landing in five,” Clint’s voice says from overhead in the cockpit, “everyone gear up.”

Sam claps Steve on the back one more time and tries to give him a reassuring smile, not really succeeding.

“It’ll be okay,” Same says, “if it comes down to it, you’ll be able to get through to him.”

Steve mentally gives Sam kudos for actually sounding like he believed that.

~

The base is abandoned when they arrive.

“You know,” Clint says quietly, bow and arrow in hand, “for some reason I thought there would actually be  _ people  _ at this one. How is HYDRA supposed to be slowly taking over the world if all their bases are abandoned?”

“Not all of them,” Bucky says gruffly, face pale as he looks around, “just the ones people still know about.”

“That’s reassuring,” Clint mumbles under his breath.

“Quiet with the chatter,” Natasha snaps over the comms from where she is ahead of the group with Steve. Clint grumples but doesn’t say anything.

“It was recently abandoned,” Wanda says from where she has stopped by a group of desks with computers on them. They were standing in some sort of office room near the back of the base.The desks themselves look like they were hastily packed, papers strewn about and drawers left hanging open from where they had been violently pulled apart.

“Why do you say that?” Steve asks, turning back and walking to stand next to Wanda.

She lifts a hand and places it on the side of a computer tower on the desk in front of her.

“Still warm,” she says, eyes wide, “they’ve been on very recently.”

“They must’ve gotten wind we were coming somehow,” Bucky said, lowering his gun slightly. “They must have a watch stationed further out. Maybe radar or something that saw us coming and warned them.”

“Yeah,” Steve agrees quietly, trying to ignore the disappointment he feels bubbling in his stomach.

It’s probably a good thing there’s nothing there. They’d looked all through the bunker by that point and hadn’t found anyone. They’d found the old training room, the holding rooms and cryo-chambers of the old soldiers, and even the wiping chair, but there had been no one around. Everything… looked like it hadn’t been touched in a couple years.

Apparently not true, but nonetheless, as of that moment there was nothing there for them.

And if nothing is here… that means Tony might be… Tony might not have been….

It’s probably just wishful thinking on Steve’s part at this point that HYDRA hasn’t done something horrible to Tony yet considering how long he’s been missing.

“Alright,” Steve says louder, turning to the group assembled behind him. “If there’s nothing else here to see then I think we should turn around and head back. Bucky says there are still a couple of bases we can check, so if there really isn’t anything here then we shouldn’t waste any more time.”

He had tried to keep his commanding Captain Voice to hide his disappointment at not finding anything, but judging by the sympathetic looks on everyone else’s faces, he hadn’t succeeded.

“Well,” Clint says as they all start making their way to the front of the bunker, “at least we didn’t have to fight any more winter soldiers.”

“I can fight you if you’re that desperate,” Bucky says, face completely straight.

“Nope,” Clint says, side-eyeing Bucky and moving to stand behind Nat, “nope, I’m not doing that, thanks.”

Natasha rolls her eyes and shoves Clint away.

Steadily they make their way back to the front of the building so they can start the journey back to Wakanda. They walk back through the training room and the room with the chair in the middle, chambers lining the walls. Steve watches the way Bucky eyes the chair, gaze blank but his face extremely pale.

Steve catches his eye and raises an eyebrow, but Bucky simply shakes his head and tightens his hands on his rifle before moving ahead and not looking back.

A while later they all turn the corner to the exit and Steve feels the air inside of him freeze as he takes in the sight that is before them. He hears the others behind him gasp and curse as they realize what it is that they’re seeing in front of them.

There, making his way towards the hall to exit the bunker from the other side, is a man in all black kevlar, long, lanky brown hair, and a black mask that covers everything from his eyebrows down to his chin. He has holsters on both legs holding two handguns, and he’s carrying what looks like a duffle bag full of more weapons.

The man looks up and freezes as well as he apparently meets Steve’s eyes behind his masked ones.

Everyone is frozen looking at each other for a few moments before the soldier seems to come to his senses. He straightens up and drops the duffle bag behind him, hands coming up in front of him as he cracks his knuckles and takes a clearly offensive stance, ready to fight them.

“You had to say it, didn’t you,” Steve hears Sam grumble to Clint from behind him.

Steve can hear everyone gearing up and getting ready to fight as they stare each other down for a few moments.

Steve opens his mouth to tell everyone to make their move when the soldier suddenly lunges toward them all.

Steve lunges to the side to avoid a direct punch to the face and sees Clint and Bucky step up from behind him to take on the man.

Clint pulls an arrow from his quiver, but before he has the opportunity to latch it, the winter soldier is in front of him. Clint tries to fight him off but a hard kick to the shin and a quick swipe of the leg has Clint falling down to one knee.

Clint watches in horror as the soldier grabs the bow from his hand and proceeds to bend the metal in half. The soldier throws the bow down at Clint’s feet before turning to face Bucky. Bucky quickly lunges forward to meet him.

“I thought Zemo killed all the other Winter Soldiers!”

“He did,” Bucky yells back as he dodges another blow, “those were all the ones they had!”

“Well obviously HYDRA had a secret stash lying around  _ somewhere _ !” Clint screams, finally leaving his bow and climbing back to his feet, pulling a gun from its thigh holster.

Clint fires a couple of shots at the soldier’s back and openly gapes as the bullets hit the jacket only to bounce right back off. The spot where they struck the jacket lights up a bright blue before the bullets fall harmlessly to the ground at the soldier’s feet.

“The hell did HYDRA get that tech?” Clint curses under his breath as he tries to recalculate what to do next. 

Bucky swings at the soldier’s head with his metal arm, but the soldier simply bends backwards to avoid the hit, his own fists coming up one right after the other to punch Bucky in the sternum. It leaves Bucky a little breathless for a moment but it doesn’t stop him from swinging his leg up and around in a kick to try and hit the other man’s head. The soldier once again ducks down to avoid the hit, and while Bucky it turned around the soldier quickly raises his own leg to spartan kick Bucky in his lower back. The kick is apparently stronger than it looks because it sends Bucky forward a couple feet into the air and Bucky has to scramble to not land on his face at the unexpected hit.

The man seems to pause for a second to gain his bearings and Steve takes a minute to watch him.

This soldier is smaller than the two men he’d been fighting, less muscular and more lean. He moves with grace, quick on his feet because the lack of bulk like Bucky and Steve have makes it easier to maneuver around them. The lack of bulk does not mean a lack of strength, however, as his fighting seems to indicate he has some level of super strength on par with other winter soldiers, which is a lot. His greasy hair hangs in his face over the mask in matted, tangled curls.

While Bucky is down, the soldier stops to press a button on his wrists, and slowly a black metal materializes from somewhere moving like liquid, forming protective gloves over his hands. They light up a bright blue as electricity spreads through them, the power in them so strong the electricity jumps in staticy-blue arcs between the fingers like miniature lightning.

He turns back toward Clint, fingers curled like claws as the electricity bounces between the tips of his fingers.

“Oh,  _ hell  _ no,” Clint says, eyeing the gloves warily.

The soldier takes a step toward Clint when suddenly the air fills with a whooshing sound and somebody is shouting.

“Barton, get down!”

Clint drops to the ground just as Sam comes flying forward, flipping around in the air so his legs are facing forward and double kicks the soldier in the chest at high speed, sending him flying backwards.

Sam lands and Wanda comes up behind him, fingers already lit up red as the soldier gets back to his feet and runs back toward them.

Sam runs forward to face the soldier head on, using his wings to jump over the other man whenever he tries to swipe at Sam with his gloves. Sam manages to hold his own for a few punches, even managing to land another kick to the soldiers face while he was mid-jump.

Sam jumps through the air again to avoid another swipe by the electric gloves, but the soldier seems to have figured out his pattern because as soon as Sam jumps the soldier jumps with him, hands grabbing onto the falcon wing pack. He swings Sam around so that Sam hangs in front of him, and the electric blue of his gloves grows more intense and cackles as the soldier pours the current into the wings.

Sam cries out a little from where the electricity shocks him, the wings now shutting down and sparking under the onslaught of the shocks.

“It’s an EMP, someone stop him!” Sam shouts with pain in his voice.

Wanda lifts her hands and suddenly the soldier’s hands and arms are surrounded by the red of Wanda’s magic. She tries to get his fingers to let go of the suit but she seems to be struggling as if the soldier is able to fight back against her powers. His arms jerk suddenly, and instead of his fingers unclenching both of the soldier’s arms go flying the the air, taking Sam with them.

“ _ No!”  _ Wanda shouts and tries to dissipate her power, but it’s too late.

The soldier’s arms fling forcefully to the side as if he had literally tried to throw Wanda’s power off of himself. The red of Wanda’s magic faded halfway through and at the last second the soldier let go of Sam’s wing pack. The force of the throw sends Sam flying to the other side of the room before he crashes into the wall, his head hitting the wall with a sickening  _ crack  _ before he falls to the ground. He doesn’t get back up.

The soldier pays Sam no mind and immediately turns toward Wanda, apparently identifying her as the bigger threat.

He makes a few swipes a her that she manages to dodge and weave around, pushing his hands away with her magic when his gloves get too close. Steve tries to throw his shield and get the soldier to stop, but the other man simply ducks as the shield hits the wall and bounces back to Steve’s hand. Bucky and Clint are both shooting at the soldier but the bullets just bounce off his back like they had when they tried before.

Steve realizes before Wanda does that the soldier is herding her into a corner, trying to get her back against the wall so she can no longer slide by him and escape.

“ _ Wanda! He--” _

The soldier lunges forward and Wanda brings her arms up, fingers working furiously through the air and then the soldier is held frozen, both of his arms and chest held in place by the red light, unmoving.

The soldier struggles and grunts against the magic, but he doesn’t move.

“He should be stuck now,” Wanda says through clenched teeth, her face scrunched up in concentration, “but  _ hurry,  _ I don’t know how long I can hold him.”

The soldier snarls at her behind his mask.

“Okay,” Steve says, looking around at the others, “how are we going to--”

“ _ CAP!” _

Steve turns and sees Wanda watching the soldier in horror. Her hands are still working furiously to keep him in place, but he is using his super strength against her and using his legs to push against it as much as he can. Steve watches as though in slow motion as the soldier’s hands, still cackling with electricity, jerkily move so they are extended in front of him. His palms aren’t flat, instead his fingers are outstretched and curled as if he’s trying to grab at Wanda’s jacket. There’s a whirring sound as the electricity builds up in the gloves, and even though the pose and the move is convoluted, twisted and more sinister, there is something about it that is familiar all the same. Watching it makes the bottom drop out of Steve’s stomach as he imagines another gauntleted hand making a similar gesture--

Before anyone can react, the electricity gathering in his fingers and in his palms shoot out from his hands toward Wanda, striking her on her open, unprotected side. Immediately she lights up bright blue as electricity seems to travel throughout her body, her back bowing in midair as she’s electrocuted. She throws her head back and a gut-wrenching scream is ripped from her throat as her body convulses from the electricity still being poured into her. Her body seems to lift off the ground for a moment before suddenly the electricity stops and she drops to the ground. They all watch as she drops motionless except for the occasional twitch from a limb.

Nobody moves as they all stare in horror wondering if Wanda is even still alive. Steve can barely breathe for all that his lungs seem to have stopped working.

Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, Clint moves forward. He runs up to the soldier and jumps, spins, and kicks, his heel connecting with the side of the soldier’s face, disconnecting the mask--

The mask falls--

Time stands still and Steve feels as if the Hulk punched him in the chest, a strong ache in his heart as all the oxygen leaves his body and the room.

“Tony?”

Tony stares at them impassively, not seeming to care that his mask has been removed and not appearing to recognize Steve at all.

No. God,  _ no _ . Not again, not again,  _ no,  _ this can’t be happening, this couldn’t be real--

Tony moves quickly, lifting a metal fist to bring it down  _ hard _ on Clint’s head. Distracted as he is by the reveal, Clint goes down quickly, legs crumpling beneath him before he lay still on the ground. Blood drips down from his forehead and down his face, split open from the hit, but his chest is still moving.

Tony pushes forward and tries to move around them to get to the exit, apparently deciding he is wasting his time staying here to fight them.

He was trying to escape. To go where Steve couldn’t follow, to go back to those people, the ones who had turned him into  _ this,  _ to where Steve couldn’t help him--

Steve takes a step forward and places himself between Tony and his destination. Tony stops and stares at him, face still blank. Bucky is quietly creeping up steadily behind Tony, trying to sneak up on him.

Tony must’ve heard something anyway because he turns around, swinging his arm around to Bucky’s head. Bucky catches the gloved metal fist with his own and shoves it back. They’re fighting again now, Bucky and Tony, old soldier to new. Tony appears to be more defensive than offensive this time, seemingly wanting to simply escape the attack so he can get away rather than try to kill them to escape.

Bucky appears to have the upper hand, slowly moving forward and thus pushing Tony back until he is closer to Steve.  _ Just a little closer… come on, just a little… _

Faster than any of them can blink, Tony goes from defensive to offensive, quickly showing that he had been holding a lot back until now. He spun in the air, striking his leg out so his foot hits Bucky across the jaw so hard Steve hears a crack. Bucky’s head turns so quickly and so far Steve is almost worried Tony has snapped Bucky’s neck.

Tony lands and immediately, while Bucky is still disoriented, drags his other leg under Bucky’s and knocks him to the ground. Tony climbs on top of him before Buck can get back up, punching him hard with his metal hand once, twice, three times in the face. Steve can hear the snap and crack of bones under Tony’s fist, blood pouring from Bucky’s nose, mouth, and face. Tony swings one more time, this time winding his arm completely up and behind his head before swinging it down with full force, striking Bucky so hard his head snaps to the side, splattering the wall beside him with blood.

It’s obvious HYDRA has given Tony some kind of serum, probably the same one they’d once killed Howard Stark for. Just the thought of that possibility makes Steve feel sick.

Tony sits straddled atop Bucky for a moment to catch his bearings before he wipes the blood from his face with his sleeve and pushes himself to his feet. He picks up the gun Clint had dropped in the fight and turned towards Steve who has moved to block the exit.

Steve was gearing up to fight Tony, Tony slipping once again into a fighting stance--

\--when suddenly there is an angry yell and someone launches themselves onto Tony’s back. He lurches forward from the unexpected weight but quickly corrects himself. He grabs onto one of the legs wrapped around his waist and tugs,  _ hard _ .

Natasha tries to twist out of the grab at the same time and only ends up succeeding in landing flat on her back on the floor, all the air knocked out of her. Immediately Tony is there grabbing her by the throat and lifting her bodily from the ground,  _ one handed, _ shoving her so hard against the wall Steve watches her head bounce back off of it, can hear the wet  _ smack  _ of it from across the room. Pain dances across her face before she can cover it.

She grabs at his hand as it squeezes tighter around her throat, nails clawing at the kevlar armor Tony is wearing. Tony’s face is blank, his eyes empty, no emotion, no reaction at all to the fact that he is  _ strangling _ his friend,  _ his teammate _ , in the middle of--

“Tony.”

Natasha has stopped struggling and is simply clinging to Tony’s arm instead. Her face is turning blue but she looks him in the eye, expression filled with more emotion and vulnerability than Steve has seen from her in a long time.

Tony’s grip on her neck is still tight, but apparently something has changed that Steve cannot see, because Natasha tries again.

“Tony, please.”

Tony’s face flickers with something and his eyes widen slightly.

“Come on, Tony,” Natasha can barely speak now, her throat so constricted and her body quickly getting weaker from lack of oxygen.

“You know me. Tony… Tony, you know--”

Tony’s grip lessens an obvious amount, his knuckles no longer white. Natasha draws in a deep breath, dragging in air on reflex before gagging on it and breaking into hacking, wheezing coughing.

Tony’s hand has dropped to the side and Natasha falls, just barely managing to land on her feet.  His body is motionless as he stares at Natasha. His eyes seem brighter, and Steve thinks he can see some glint of recognition in his face the longer Tony looks at Natasha.

Natasha finally stops coughing but her breath is coming out in short gasps and her voice comes out as a hoarse whisper.

“Tony…. Please…. You know me. You  _ know  _ me, Tony.”

Tony’s eyes meet hers. Steve is frozen, eyes on Tony waiting to see what he will do next.

“Tony….”

As suddenly as it appears it’s vanished, the recognition on his face gone before it falls back into the blank, empty shell of a mask it was before.

“Тони здесь нет.”

Steve jerks back in time with Natasha as the gunshot rings out.

Natasha’s mouth is open and her eyes are wide as she stares at Tony in shock before looking down at her own stomach. She lays a hand there and Steve feels his heart clench when he sees it come away with a  _ lot  _ of blood.

Steve watches in open mouthed horror as Natasha slides down the wall, leaving a bloody trail in her wake. Tony is raising the gun both Steve and Natasha had forgotten was in his hand, pointing it at Steve.

“Переехать.”

“Tony,” Steve whispers, holding his hands up in surrender, “Tony, please.”

“Переехать,” Tony says again, voice a little louder a little firmer.

“Tony, it’s me,” Steve choked, his voice caught on the lump in his throat. He can feel the burning behind his eyes, his throat constricting as he struggles to keep his emotions in check.

“Baby,  _ please _ ,” he begs, hands raised in plea, “this isn’t right. This isn’t who you are.”

Steve tries to take a step forward but Tony takes a step back. His face is blank, but his deep brown eyes are as expressive as ever, and Steve can see the fear and confusion inside of them. Tony’s eyes were always his giveaway.

“ _ Переехать!” _

Steve flinches at the bellow and takes a step back. Tony’s eyes are wide and bright and wild, his face pale, his body shaking slightly where he stands from how tense he is.

“It’s me, Tony, it’s Steve,” he says, raising a hand and pulling his cowl from his face. He feels his hopes brighten at the way Tony’s eyes widen just a fraction in recognition.

“Baby, it’s me, please,” Steve whispers, putting a hand out, palm up towards Tony. He feels oddly like he is talking to a frightened, wounded animal.

He supposes, in a way, he is.

Tony’s eyebrows crease just so in confusion. The tension in his arms lessens and he lowers the gun slightly.

“It’s okay,” Steve reassures him, a nervous smile flitting across his face, “it’s okay, Tony. No one is going to hurt you, okay? Put the gun down. You can come with me.”

The gun lowers some more until it’s pointed at the ground at Steve’s feet. Tony’s eyes narrow slightly, his whole face breaking down into confusion as he stares at Seve with a glimmer of recognition in his eyes.

“Steve,” he breathes, his voice hoarse.

“It’s okay,” Steve says, hope and relief coursing through his veins, “sweetheart, it’s okay. We’re here to help you, okay? We’re here to bring you home.”

Tony’s hand is loose around the gun now, the weapon hanging limply in his hand. Tony’s eyes are wide and suspiciously bright. He looks so confused and shaken, face still dotted and smeared with Bucky’s blood, and Steve’s heart nearly breaks at how unstable and utterly broken Tony looks at that moment.

Steve shuffles forward just another inch, his hand still held out for Tony to choose to take. He can feel his heart pounding in his chest, up his throat, and into his ears as he watches Tony’s eyes flicker from his face down to his outstretched hand.

“Tony…” Steve whispers, desperation clear in his expression.

Tony takes a step forward and raises the hand not holding the gun. The electricity has long gone from the gloves, and Steve watches with quiet hope as the glove of Tony’s right hand retracts to reveal skin.

Tony’s fingers are just brushing Steve’s and Steve can feel the warmth radiating from them.

“Steve,” Tony whispers again, “I--”

And suddenly Tony is jerking his hand back, his entire body jerking back and the gun in his hand clamors to the ground as Tony’s hands suddenly reach up to grab at his own head.

Steve watches in quiet horror as Tony starts to pull at his own hair as he collapses to his knees. The room suddenly fills with Tony’s screams as some unseen force causes him intense, unimaginable pain. Screams tear from his throat, his back arching as he collapses to the ground, grabbing at his head, pulling his hair, and scratching both his gloved and uncovered hand at his face leaving gouges and trails of blood behind.

“Tony,” Steve shouts, moving closer to where Tony fell but unsure how to help him, “Tony, wha--”

Tony starts convulsing against the ground, screams growing louder as whatever is causing him pain seems to intensify. He picks up his uncovered fist and start hitting himself on the head to try and stop the pain, biting his lip to keep from screaming. Steve hovers over Tony, hands outstretched but unsure how to help as Tony lifts his head and bangs it on the ground once, twice, three times before suddenly the screaming stops and Tony stops moving.

Steve swallows back the nausea in his throat when he sees the blood spattered on the ground from where Tony had tried to bash his brains in. He stays kneeled next to Tony, unsure what to do. Tony is still alive - there are short whimpers coming from him and his chest is heaving as if he had just run a marathon. The rest of the bunker is silent as Tony recovers from whatever torture he’s just been subjugated to in his own head.

Steve shuffles forward a bit on his knees and slowly reaches a hand out towards Tony’s shoulder.

“Tony..?” Steve whispers, the sound barely more than a breath of air.

His fingers just barely brush against Tony’s shoulder--

Before Steve could even register what was happening, Tony flips over on the ground and kicks out with both legs, sending Steve flying back through the air. While Steve is distracted, Tony grabs the gun off the ground and kicks back up to his feet, and when Steve finally gets back to his feet it’s to find Tony a few feet from him, gun pointed straight between Steve’s eyes.

All recognition is gone from Tony’s face and eyes. His face is once again the carefully controlled blank slate that it was when they first arrived, the same look Steve had seen on Bucky’s face all those years ago in DC.

_ Mind wipe. They don’t even need the chair to do it anymore… they implanted it in his head. _

Steve feels like his whole body has been drenched in cold water and he can barely breathe as he watches Tony slowly walk toward him, gun aloft. Tony is extremely pale, nose and forehead split open and dripping blood from where he banged his face against the concrete floor. His lip is sluggishly bleeding from where he bit through it trying to stop his screams.

Steve feels the tears gather in his eyes as he watches Tony stare impassively at him, all humanity seemingly gone.

Tony cocks his gun.

“Tony…” Steve begs, tears slowly slipping down his cheeks, “Tony,  _ god… please…” _

So quickly Steve thinks he might have imagined it, something flickers in Tony’s eyes before returning to the same emptiness they held before.

Steve holds his breath. Slowly, his eyes slip shut. He waits.

Nothing happens.

“Вы не мое задание,” Tony says quietly.

Tony moves quickly, pointing his gun back down. Steve feels a searing pain through his shin as the gunshot rings out and he stumbles to the side to try and coordinate himself.

Tony kicks his shin where the bullet has hit and Steve falls down with an agonized screech. Tony takes this moment of distraction, moving around Steve as he falls and walking calmly towards the exit.

Steve can hear helicopters from outside and figures that is Tony’s ride out of this place. He watches from the floor with tears in his eyes and down his face as Tony picks up his mask, slips it back on his face, and walks calmly out the exit without a backwards glance, leaving Steve surrounded by the carnage of the fallen Avengers.

**Author's Note:**

> Тони здесь нет - There is no Tony.  
> Переехать - Move  
> Вы не мое задание - You are not my mission
> 
> Feel free to yell at me in the comments lol I've been working on this for so long and I want to know what you think :)
> 
> Also, follow me on [Tumblr!](http://superhusbands4ever.tumblr.com/)


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